The novel is narrated by Stephanie Hirsch, who has several changes in her life happening at the same time. She is turning thirteen, her family has just moved, she is starting middle school, her parents are separating, she gains ten pounds over the holidays, she starts menstruating and becoming interested in boys, and her lifelong friendship with the overachieving Rachel Robinson (the later protagonist of Here's to You, Rachel Robinson) is threatened when new girl Alison Monceau moves to town. Stephanie really likes Alison and feels that Rachel is threatened when the twosome becomes a threesome.
Allusions and references to other works
The novel's title is a reference from the popular 1927 song "Side by Side" by Gus Kahn and Harry M. Woods, which Stephanie learned at summer camp and teaches her friends. She chooses her favorite lines in the song:
